Originally published March 2 2005
Renewable energy sources are desirable, but they are still more expensive than gasoline
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Though there is a widespread desire to make such renewable energy sources as wind power, biodiesel fuel, and solar energy into common energy solutions, they are still too expensive to supplant gasoline. At the current price-per-power ratios, oil would have to go up to $70 a barrel for renewable energy to be cost competitive. Thus, governmental subsidies are the best bet for advancing renewable energy technology.
Biofuels and wind power are the best bets for alternative energy sources as oil and natural gas prices rise even though the economics of green fuels are still far from viable, analysts say.
The search for sustainable energy sources has intensified as oil prices simmer around $50 a barrel while governments try to meet commitments under the United Nations Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which comes into force on February 16.
Biodiesel which is made from vegetable oils and ethanol which is made from sugar or grains could be used as a cleaner fuel for vehicles and industry.
Wind power is making headway in the electricity market, with generation nearly quadrupling globally in the past five years, according to Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based research group.
But biodiesel remains 50 percent more expensive than petrol, meaning oil prices would have to climb above $70 a barrel for biofuels to be competitive with petrol.
And the expansion of high-cost wind power will depend on more subsidies to allow it to compete with gas and coal.
"Oil would have to get to perhaps $70-$80 a barrel for bio to be competitive, but there is no clear agreement on this figure," Peter Clery, chairman of the British Association for Biofuels and Oils (BABFO), told Reuters.
"Biodiesel and bioethanol from UK feedstocks is still probably close to twice the fossil fuel figure," he said.
Oil futures spiked to a record $55 a barrel in New York last year, creating worries over economic growth.
U.S. crude was trading at $47 a barrel on Friday.
"Right now nobody expects energy prices to stay as high as they are over the long run -- if people did begin to expect that then they would be more willing to make investment in renewable energy on that basis," said Steve Taub of Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
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